Insomnia
by gingerw
Summary: Vicki can't stop thinking about what Henry said that night...


She could hear the freezing rain against her windowpane, and sighed as she pulled her pillow over her face. Usually she liked winter, but the weather just seemed to be mocking her, mirroring her moods and reminding her just how incredibly fucked up her life had been lately. _"Vicki, maybe we should just forget this ever happened." _Those words kept running like a broken record in her head for the past month, preventing her from sleeping. She glanced at the green digital numbers on her alarm clock and sighed again as the time ticked over from 1:02 to 1:03.

She'd been trying to avoid thinking about Henry, but it seemed that he was the only thing she could think about. The few times she'd seen him since the Norman fiasco, things had been awkward but they both pretended it wasn't. She'd only seen Henry twice. Once to destroy the objects used to summon Asteroth, and once when he came to the office to help Coreen with some research for a class she was taking. Both times were perfunctory and to the point, and left her feeling even more disgruntled than before.

When the clock hit 1:23, she muttered "Fuck it," and grabbed the TV remote off the bedside table, hoping to distract herself from her whirling brain. She became engrossed in a late night movie, when she heard a light rap on her door. Getting up, she tossed the remote on the bed, and padded softly to the door.

It was Henry.

Opening the door, she peered tiredly at him. "You do know it's the middle of the night, don't you?" she asked as she ran a hand through her messy hair.

"That might be a problem if you were actually sleeping," he said as his eyes took in her yoga pants and tank top.

"How do you know I wasn't?" she asked.

"I could hear your heart beating. Vampire senses, remember?" he smirked.

"Right," she muttered as she opened the door for him to come in.

He followed the flickering light from the TV into her bedroom, and stood just inside the doorway, taking in the crumpled linens and remote thrown down on the edge of the bed. Vicki leaned against the doorframe and folded her arms, waiting for him to say something.

"I'm worried about you, Vicki," he said in a low voice.

She frowned. "Worried about me? Why?"

"You've had insomnia every night since we sent Norman back to hell," he said as he turned and looked at her.

She just stared at him for a moment. "How do you…never mind." She sighed as she tried to re-aim her thoughts. "Why are you monitoring my sleeping habits?" she asked as she rubbed her eyes. "Are you stalking me again?" she said in a lighthearted tone.

He just stood there, staring at her for a moment, his eyes caressing the curves of her face. "I wanted to make sure you were ok."

"You could've just asked me. That's a little less stalkerish than standing outside my window every night." She tried to make her voice steady, while underneath her brain was trying to make sense of this. _Why_ _does he care that much?  
_  
He smiled. "People tell you what they want you to hear, remember?" The grin disappeared as he softly said, "Especially you."

She just stared at him for a moment, trying to make her brain formulate an answer. She was way too tired for this conversation. "It's nothing. It'll go away eventually."

"It's been a month," he said as he reached out and ran his fingers through the ends of her hair.

She tried to control her breathing as his fingers skimmed her jaw. "What are you trying to say, Henry?"

He dropped his hand and took a step toward her. "Something's going on with you."

His low voice was smooth and soft, and she closed her eyes for a moment, trying again to focus her thoughts. She had a hard time doing that when he was so near. "Nothing's going on with me. It's just a bout of insomnia. I'll be fine." She opened her eyes to find him even closer than before.

"You're a terrible liar, Vicki," he said in that same low, smooth voice. "Your heart speeds up whenever you try." He ran his fingers through her hair once again. "Why don't you just tell me because I'll find out eventually."

She sighed heavily. "You're worse than my Mom." A moment passed where he just kept staring at her with an intense expression. "Fine," she stepped away from him and strode further into the room, sitting on the edge of the bed. She needed the distance to formulate what she was going to say. There was no way she was going to tell him the whole truth. _There will be no talk of my feelings for him. _"Almost dying has me a little weirded out, that's all." _Nice recovery.  
_  
His eyes roamed over her, taking in her disheveled appearance and the weariness pulling at her eyes. "We destroyed the objects used in the ritual. Norman isn't coming back."

She rubbed her eyes again. "Evil always finds a way. You're the one who told me that, or have you forgotten?"

He walked slowly into the room and sat next to her on the bed. He reached out a finger and tipped her chin towards him. "I won't pretend that there aren't things out there that go bump in the night," he smirked as she rolled her eyes. "And the fact that you have those brands on your arms proves it. But whatever happens, we'll figure out a way to stop it."

She stared at him. _We?_ It would be so easy to believe him, to just believe that he would take care of her, always and forever. But she was a big girl who lived in the real world, and knew from experience that no one came to your rescue. Depending on someone else was the kiss of death, in this case, literally.

"So you think I should just ignore everything and pretend I'm going to be ok?" She was aiming for a tone of disbelief, but it came out sounding small and weary.

Henry reached a hand out and smoothed the hair away from her face, his features softening as her eyes slid closed at the sensation. "I think you're exhausted and you shouldn't make any decisions right now. Get some sleep and then we'll talk about what to do."

"That's easy for you to say, you've got all those cool vampire powers. All I've got is bad eyesight and a Goth assistant," she said as she felt his hand on her hair again.

He smiled gently, his eyes connecting with hers. "Then why don't you let me use them for once?" Confused, she looked at him with a slight frown. "Lay down." He got up and pulled back the covers on her bed as she stood up and stared at him.

"What…?" she began to say, but he put a finger over her lips and stared at her with an intense expression.

"Nothing will happen to you while I'm here, Vicki. Just get some rest." He continued to stare at her, willing her to argue.

She knew arguing would do no good. He was determined this time, and truthfully, she was too tired to put up much of a fight. She slowly nodded, and got into bed. He pulled the covers over her, and using his vampire speed he rounded the bed and lay down on top of the covers next to her.

She glanced up at him, wondering if this arrangement was such a good idea, but kept the thought to herself as he grabbed the remote and switched off the TV. Dark enveloped the room, and she took a deep breath. "Henry, I..." she began to say. She wanted to say something about that night that she thought Norman was Henry. She wanted to tell him that she was relieved that it wasn't him, that he was wrong about her not being passionate, that she wasn't opposed to the idea of him and her.

But the thought died on her lips as he once again put a finger to her mouth. "Shh. Just rest now. There's time to talk about everything tomorrow." His voice had that low, smooth quality to it again, and she turned on her side and took a deep breath, trying to relax.

He smelled like soap and rain, and his scent permeated the room. She could think of nothing else but him, his nearness. She was just about to tell him it wasn't working when she felt his hand on her hair again. His fingers stroked through the strands, smoothing down to the base of her skull. She couldn't help but relax, the movement lulling her into sleep.

The last thought she had before falling into a deep, dreamless sleep, was that maybe things weren't so bad after all.


End file.
